The Handbook of Labor Statistics is recognized as an authoritative resource on the U.S. labor force. It continues and enhances the Bureau of Labor Statisticss (BLS) discontinued publication, Labor Statistics. Compiled in the midst of a dramatic economic downturn, the 14th Edition allows the user to understand recent developments as well as to compare todays economy with past history. The Handbook is a comprehensive reference providing an abundance of data on a variety of topics including:employment and unemploymentearningspricesproductivityconsumer expendituresoccupational safety and healthunion membershipinternational labor comparisonsand much more! Features of the publicationIn addition to over 200 tables that present practical data, the Handbook provides:introductory material for each chapter that contains highlights of salient data and figures that call attention to noteworthy trends in the datanotes and definitions, which contain concise descriptions of the data sources, concepts, definitions, and methodology from which the data are derivedreferences to more comprehensive reports which provide additional data and more extensive descriptions of estimation methods, sampling, and reliability measuresNew in the 14th Edition:in Chapter 1, a new section has been added on persons with a disability in the labor forceChapter 6 has been expanded to include new tables on employee compensationtables in Chapter 2 now include hours of work, earnings per hour, and earnings per week for all employees as well as for production and nonsupervisory workersSome Interesting Facts in the 14th edition:in 2009, the unemployment rate increased sharply to 9.3 percent-the highest the unemployment rate has been since 1983Michigan had the highest unemployment rate in 2009 at 13.6 percent followed by Nevada at 11.

8 percent and South Carolina at 11.7 percent. North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rate at 4.3 percentfrom January 2010 to October 2010, the number of initial claimants for unemployment insurance dropped from 182,261 to 148,059although the number of mass layoffs increased 7.9 percent to 1,651 from September 2010 to October 2010, it was still much lower than the high of 2,489 in November 2008while the civilian labor force is only projected to grow 8.2 percent from 2008-2018, the number of persons 75 years and over in the labor force is projected to grow by 61.9 percenttwenty-four percent of people did some or all of their job at home on days that they workedon an average weekday, 83 percent of employed persons worked, while on an average weekend day, only 35 percent of employed persons workedfrom September 2005 to September 2010, the Employment Cost Index increased 12.8 percent for private industry workerstotal non-farm employment declined in 2009 by 4.

3 percent after declining by 0.6 percent in 2008the mean annual wages of those in education, training, and library occupations ranged from $24,280 for teachers assistants to $109,150 for postsecondary law teachers in 2009there were only 5 major work stoppages in 2009 involving 1,000 workers or more, which is the lowest number since the work stoppage began in 1947.